


I think I'm falling, falling for you

by momentsintimex



Series: all of my wrongs they led me right to you [5]
Category: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (Movies)
Genre: F/M, them falling in love slowly, this is heavily requested
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 19:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20981234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momentsintimex/pseuds/momentsintimex
Summary: Owen Kavinsky and Kitty Covey find that maybe they're not so different from their siblings after all.





	I think I'm falling, falling for you

**Author's Note:**

> heavily requested in the series, so i indulged and loved writing this! title of this fic is from fallingforyou by The 1975

Kitty’s joking at first.

She said that she and Owen should date more to see what his reaction would be than anything else. Their siblings had found their ways back to each other, things had been going well, and Kitty finally got to see that firsthand. So when she and Owen are hanging out at the Covey’s watching movies before they go out with friends, Kitty looks at her best friend and smiles.

“We should go out on a date. Like Lara Jean and Peter did.”

Owen’s silent for a moment, popping another piece of popcorn into his mouth. He turns, studies Kitty’s face for a moment, and then shrugs. “So what if we did?”

It’s Kitty’s turn to stare. She was only joking. It’s what she keeps telling herself. She thought he’d laugh it off, shake his head and say that they’re better off as best friends.

And then he didn’t. And now she thinks about it, and maybe going on a date isn’t the worst idea ever. Maybe in some twisted fate they were meant to be together, too. It took them longer to figure it out, but now it’s here and maybe they go for it.

Kitty lets it cross her mind that going on a date with Owen could ruin their friendship. He’s been her rock for so many years that she finds herself scared to lose him. To be in a world where he isn’t ready to talk to her whenever he needs her. But that’s getting ahead of herself, and so Kitty stops, takes a deep breath, and looks back at her best friend.

“Okay,” She shrugs.

Owen’s lips curl up into a smile. He eats the last handful of popcorn, chewing with a smirk on his face, and leans back against the cushions. “That Italian place in town? Tomorrow night?”

Kitty’s heart picks up and for a moment she feels like she’s going to pass out. And then she smiles, reaches her hand out for him to shake, and nods. “You have yourself a date, Kavinsky.”

She barely sleeps that night.

—

In hindsight, maybe she should’ve told her sisters she was going on a date with Owen Kavinsky.

She decided to keep it a secret because she didn’t want to deal with Margot’s lecturing about being involved with a Kavinsky and Lara Jean’s incessant celebrations that it was happening and they were dating brothers.

Now she stands in front of her closet, completely lost on what to wear on a date with a guy she considers her best friend.

Trina knocks on the door, smiling as she steps in and sits down on the bed. “Need help finding something to wear?”

Kitty turns helplessly, nodding. “Normally I’d ask Lara Jean or Margot, but I’m not telling them about this date, so…”

“You’re not even telling Lara Jean?” Trina asks, standing up and flipping through Kitty’s clothes, pulling out a sundress. Kitty nods, taking it from her hands. “I think Lara Jean would be excited to know that you and Owen are going on a date.”

“Yeah, maybe. But if we decide to be friends then I’ll never hear the end of it,” Kitty sighs. She disappears from her room for a moment, coming back and sitting down at her vanity to do her hair. “Maybe it’d be better if we just stayed friends.”

Trina sits down on Kitty’s bed, shrugging. “Maybe it will be. But you won’t know until you give it a chance. So do that?”

“I will,” Kitty nods. She braids her hair with ease, tying off the end. “And if tonight goes well, then I’ll tell Lara Jean.”

Trina smiles, nodding in agreement. She talks with Kitty while she does her makeup, and when she’s finished and the two disappear downstairs to wait for Owen, Kitty feels the slightest bit better about this.

—

They don’t go to an overly fancy restaurant, but they’re definitely the youngest people there and it hits Kitty that she’s on a date with her best friend and they’re not joking around or being funny about it. She tries to relax, listens to Owen talk about his intramural baseball team at college and how he’s annoyed they have to go back soon, and somehow she manages to talk about the clubs she’s joined since being on campus.

It’s not awkward, not at least in Kitty’s mind, but it’s not what she imagined. She doesn’t know if she thought she’d fall head over heels in love with Owen, but it’s more that she isn’t sure this fancy dating thing is for them, especially when Owen puts his hand up in protest when she goes to pay her half of the bill.

“I asked you on this date, I’m going to pay,” He says with ease, slipping his debit card into the check before she can put her own in.

“I think I’m the one that suggested it,” Kitty retorts, a sly smile on her face when Owen moves to look at her.

“Fair enough, but I still want to pay.”

And so for once Kitty doesn’t argue, smiling at the waitress when she takes the check and returns with Owen’s card, the two of them leaving the restaurant with only a few mild stares from other diners as they move throughout the room.

Owen suggests ice cream to which Kitty immediately agrees, laughing as he leads the way down the bustling streets of town on a warm Saturday night. Owen reaches for her hand and she obliges, interlacing their fingers and desperately trying to ignore her racing heart and sudden nerves about spending time like this with a boy she once only saw as her best friend.

They order their ice cream and move to sit on a bench outside together, where they can watch people pass and hear clipped conversations, and truthfully Kitty has never been more in her element. She nudges Owen’s shoulder as a couple walk by arguing, and when they’re just far enough out of earshot the pair turn to each other and laugh, Kitty taking another bite of her ice cream.

“Do you think that was a big enough fight to end in a breakup?” Owen asks before he takes another bite of his ice cream, looking back at Kitty.

Kitty shrugs, twirling her spoon around to melt the ice cream slightly. “Maybe,” She decides after a moment, eyes shifting back to Owen’s gaze. “I mean, he did seem pretty pissed. And it sounded like maybe she forgot something important.”

“I agree,” Owen nods, taking the last bite of his ice cream before tossing it into the trash can beside him. “My mom is out for the night with some friends. Won’t be back until morning. Want to go there?”

And for all the times Kitty had been to the Kavinsky’s, this felt different. She thinks about saying no, that if they’re going to be serious about this there needs to be boundaries, but there’s something about the way he’s looking at her and so she tells herself that this isn’t any different than just being friends.

“Let’s go,” She nods after a moment, taking a final bite of her own ice cream before standing up, following him back to the car.

—

Just as it always does, the Kavinsky’s house feels like home. Kitty remembers spending hours here as a kid, she and Owen running through the backyard and making up games, and she wonders how they got here.

Where they just got back to Owen’s house after a date together, and things don’t feel awkward but not at all natural between the two of them, and for a moment Kitty wonders if she should bring it up.

But it’s Owen who turns to her after they sit down on the sofa, chewing on the corner of his lip. “So tonight was great,” He begins, which is so corny that Kitty finds herself laughing at the absurdity of it all. “God, that was cliche, wasn’t it?”

“A little bit,” Kitty muses, smiles tugging at the corner of her mouth. “But keep going. I’m intrigued now.”

Owen blushes, shaking his head as he composes himself, looking back at Kitty. “I think maybe we shouldn’t label this.” And then it’s out in the open and Kitty finds herself agreeing immediately, shoulders relaxing as she sinks back into the cushion.

“Thank god,” She mumbles, smiling. “I mean, I still want to have fun with you. I just… I think maybe we keep it casual, not say we’re dating, and then go from there.”

Owen nods, smiling for a moment before inching over, his hand grazing her leg as he brushes her hair from her face. And then his lips are pressing to hers, and it’s as if everything Kitty has wanted all night finally happens, and her hands are resting on his face and she’s kissing him harder, moving closer like it’s the first time she’s ever made out with anyone.

She pulls away and presses her forehead to his, hands cupping his cheeks as she smiles. “So we’re doing this then?” She whispers, laughing when Owen wraps his arms around her waist.

“We’re doing this,” He nods, leaning back against the cushions as Kitty moves to straddle his waist, kissing him again.

—

The first time Kitty goes to visit Owen at school, Owen ushers her into his dorm as if he’s smuggling in something illegal.

“You do know that no one here is going to take a second look at who I am, right?” She asks once they’re in his dorm, dropping her bag and hopping up onto her bag. “I get we have to be secretive at home or whatever, but here?”

“People from high school live in this building,” Owen shrugs, joining Kitty on the bed. He leans over, pecking her lips quickly.

“And?” Kitty counters, leaning back from the kiss to look at him. “Everyone knows we were best friends in high school. It's not like we’re going to walk through the halls holding hands or making out in the stairwell. This isn’t serious, remember?”

Owen nods, sighing as his head falls back against the wall. “I’m just paranoid, okay?” He argues, relaxing when Kitty laughs and leans over, kissing him.

“It’s cute, but let’s just enjoy our weekend together,” Kitty decides, laughing when Owen pulls her to lay down on his bed, kissing along her jaw and down her neck, fingers pinching at the exposed skin on her belly.

—

“Do you ever think about what would happen if Peter and Lara Jean knew about this?” Kitty asks as she pulls the blankets over her and Owen, resting her head against his shoulder.

Her hair tickles his skin, sending goosebumps down his arm as he rests his cheek against her head. “Sometimes, yeah,” He admits. “I just think they’d be protective.”

“Do you think they saw this coming?” Kitty presses, leaning back to lean on her elbow. “Like you’d have to think they thought maybe we’d have something happen between us, right?”

Owen laughs, shrugging. “I don’t know,” He says after a moment. “I mean, maybe they thought we’d just be best friends,” He decides.

“We technically still are,” She points out, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. “This isn’t anything official.”

Owen rolls his eyes, looking up at the ceiling and laughing as Kitty falls back against him, kissing along his collarbones.

“This is the best friend arrangement I could’ve asked for.”

“Shut up,” Owen laughs, rolling over so he’s hovering on top of her. He leans down, kissing around her face and purposely avoiding her lips before she pulls him down roughly, moaning against his lips as she pulls him closer.

—

Owen Kavinsky is historically bad at keeping secrets.

Peter knows this, has been accustomed to never being able to tell his brother anything and get away with it with their mom, and has used it to his advantage as often as humanly possible.

Which is why when Owen announces he’s coming into the city to watch Emmi’s soccer game for the afternoon, Peter is immediately suspicious and attempts to figure out what’s going on

He doesn’t say anything, at least not at first, instead watching as Owen plays princesses with Emmi as he orders dinner for the three of them out in the kitchen.

_Has Kitty said anything to you? Like maybe she and Owen are dating?_

It takes a moment, but Lara Jean replies with _No? Why? Did Owen say they were dating?_

_He didn’t. He just seems like he’s hiding something. I don’t know, it could be nothing._

_Let me know if he spills :)_

Peter pockets his phone, watching his brother and daughter play for a while before he joins them, sinking down onto the sofa. Emmi watches, hands him a doll to play with them, and Peter’s questions melt away as he immerses himself into the adventure she and Owen had made up while he was just in the other room.

—

“Were you planning on spending the night here?”

Peter looks up from scooping out a bowl of ice cream for Emmi, who’s enthralled with the movie and the late night Peter has granted her for the holiday weekend.

Owen glances up from his phone, shrugging. “I thought about driving home. Spending the night there instead. I haven’t been home to see Mom in a while.”

“It’s almost 10,” Peter points out, turning back towards the freezer. “You really want to drive back now? Just to sleep?”

“It’s only 45 minutes.”

“Yeah, but you know you can always crash here,” Peter sighs, walking to give Emmi her ice cream before returning to the kitchen.

“You don’t have plans with Lara Jean?” Owen smirks, laughing when his brother sighs and shakes his head.

“She doesn’t come here this late unless Emmi is with Mom,” He explains, leaning against the counter. “Are you driving home because you have some top secret late-night plans with Kitty? Lara Jean told me she was home for the weekend,” Peter teases.

Owen ducks his head, scrolling through Twitter on his phone and desperately hoping this moment passes or Emmi needs Peter or _anything_ to get him out of this conversation.

“Holy shit,” Peter says after a moment. He leans forward, impossibly close to his younger brother. “Do you and Kitty have a thing going on?”

Owen feels the heat rise to his cheeks, shrugging. “It’s — we don’t really have a _thing_,” He stammers out. Taking a breath, he forces himself to look at his brother. “We’re just having fun? It’s not really anything serious right now.”

Peter look more amused in this conversation than he has with anything else in a while, eyebrows raising as he stands up a little straighter. “Well damn, Owen,” He laughs, shaking his head. “When did this happen? Does Lara Jean know?”

“I… maybe?” He says, shaking his head. “Kitty and I said we weren’t going to tell you guys. It didn’t feel like the right thing to tell you guys when it’s nothing serious,” He explains. Peter nods, a look of amusement still on his face. “This has been a thing for a month or two, I guess. Basically whenever we can see each other.”

Peter’s silent for a moment, Owen still feels wildly uncomfortable and finds himself glancing to the living room, where Emmi is curled up under a blanket watching _Brave_ as if she has no other cares in the world, and he turns back when he hears Peter take a step back.

“Just don’t be dumb, okay? The Covey girls are… they deserve the world. Kitty included.” Peter waits until Owen nods before continuing. “Be safe, please. I love Em, but I’m not really looking to give her a cousin right now.”

Owen flushes a deep red, ducking his head. “Yeah I’m… we’re not really looking to do that,” He says quickly.

Peter, who’s enjoying this far too much, nods. “Good. But I wasn’t also looking to have Em,” He reminds him, smiling. “Treat Kitty right though?”

“So the opposite of how you treated Lara Jean when you guys were in college,” Owen jabs, his face brightening for a moment. “Got it.”

“God, you’re annoying,” Peter smirks, shoving Owen. “I won’t tell Lara Jean, by the way. I’ll give Kitty the chance to do that,” He promises, ruffling Owen’s hair on his way back to the living room.

Owen follows suit, sends a text to Kitty with a shrugging emoji and _Peter figured it out_ written with it, to which Kitty replies the eye rolling emoji and _guess I’ll figure out how to tell Lara Jean then written beside it._

_It’s not the worst thing to happen_ Owen says quickly, and then tosses his phone onto the couch cushion when Emmi curls up against his side, feeling oddly like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

—

Kitty knows she has two options.

She can go FaceTime Lara Jean and be honest that she and Owen have been fooling around but it’s nothing serious.

Or she can live in denial and pretend like Peter won’t say anything to Lara Jean about it, and this will be one of those things she won’t have to know about until it’s something more serious.

She knows what the right answer is, and so when her dad and Trina have left for their night out with Trina’s coworkers, Kitty slips downstairs and settles in on the sofa, taking a breath before hitting Lara Jean’s number to FaceTime.

It takes a moment, but soon Lara Jean’s face fills the screen with a broad smile and it’s clear she’s in her appointment, food sizzling in the background. “To what do I owe the pleasure of a Kitty FaceTime on a Saturday night?” She muses, shifting her attention back to the stove for a moment.

“Yeah, so, I have something to tell you,” Kitty says, cutting to the chase. She plays with the end of her braid, her heart feels like it’s going to flutter out of her chest, and she doesn’t think she can go on in a normal conversation without saying it first.

And then Lara Jean suddenly looks serious, eyebrows knitted as she leans against the counter. “Is everything okay? School is fine?” She asks, her voice filled with concerned.

Kitty waves those concerns off, shaking her head before nodding. “No, yeah, I’m fine and school is great,” She promises, sinking further back into the cushions. “I just… look, if you don’t hear this from me now, there’s a chance you’ll hear it from someone else.” She forces herself to take a breath, ignores Lara Jean’s patient stare and the flash of concern that still paints her face, and then forces herself to say it before she no longer can.

“Owen and I are friends with benefits.”

Lara Jean doesn’t say anything at first. She stays so still that for a moment Kitty thinks the wifi went out or something, and then she sees her take a breath.

“What do you mean friends with benefits?” She asks.

“You know,” Kitty sighs, waving her free hand. “We’re just… we’re not labeling it. When we see each other we have fun.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Lara Jean asks again. She switches off the stove, glancing back at her sister.

Kitty shrugs. “I mean, yeah. It’s better than labeling it and having to figure out long distance, you know? It takes the pressure off of things.”

“I guess so,” Lara Jean nods. She grabs her phone, walking over to the table and propping her phone up. “I guess I just didn’t really see you and Owen being friends with benefits together.”

“Why not?” Kitty smirks, suddenly feeling more comfortable.

“I don’t know,” Lara Jean smiles. She takes a bite of her dinner. “I guess I just thought you and Owen would keep this as a whole best friend thing.”

Kitty smiles. “I didn’t go into it planning to have this happen. It just… it did happen.”

Lara Jean nods, taking another bite of her dinner and swallowing before she speaks again. “Just be good to him. The Kavinskys are —“

“They’re great,” Kitty smirks, rolling her eyes.

Lara Jean laughs, nodding. “Yeah, that,” She agrees. “And you really need Owen’s friendship in your life, you know.”

“I do,” Kitty nods. “So tell me how you and Peter are.”

Kitty makes her own dinner while Lara Jean talks about Peter and Emmi and the bakery, and Kitty finds that there was no reason to be worried about how her sister was going to take it.

—

Owen and Kitty spend the entire first semester planning trips to see each other, alternating between who visited who. It’s a good system, Kitty finds, and there’s no pressure to make those trips or carve in time to see each other because they’re _not_ official, they’re just doing this for fun with no labels attached to it.

But it’s Owen who second guesses all of this first.

He loves the arrangement, loves that Kitty is so chill and is up for anything and he’s with her without being with her, and loves that this doesn’t have to be a long distance relationship because that’s exactly what killed Peter and Lara Jean when they were in college.

But the more they talk through text or the occasional FaceTime, he finds himself wanting the weekends more frequently. Not just for the sex — not that he’d complain about that — but to just be with her. To make her laugh, to lay in bed and do nothing, to even go on adventures in their small college towns they both know like the back of their hands.

And that terrifies him. This whole time he’s been telling himself that it was nothing serious, that his friendship with Kitty meant more than anything else, but it’s not _working_. He wants to be with her more than this, wants to figure out the long distance and somehow promise themselves that they won’t be like their siblings.

He wants to be able to send her cute packages or carve more time out to take her on dates without being weird. He wants more than just sex, which he never thought would come from him.

“You need to tell her that,” Peter says when Owen calls, keeping an even head about himself as he sits down on the sofa. “Look, if you two are still doing this, chances are she could feel the same.”

“I don’t know,” Owen shrugs. He texts Kitty back, flicking back to the FaceTime. “What if she is just fine with it being sex and nothing serious?”  
“Then it’s a risk you have to be willing to take,” Peter shrugs. “Look, Owen, it’s not going to magically happen if you don’t say anything. She can’t read your mind, and for as forward as Kitty is, maybe she hasn’t thought about how she feels about you. Maybe you bringing it up can be the start of something.”

Owen nods, taking a breath. “She’s coming to visit this weekend.”

“Take her to that Mexican place Em loves,” Peter smiles. “Have some time away from your dorm room, and then talk to her wherever you feel comfortable.”

“You’re saying I should take her to my niece’s favorite restaurant?” He asks, but there’s a smile on his face and Peter laughs, running his hands through his hair.

“To be fair, Em has a very sophisticated palate for a 5 year old.”

Owen can’t argue with that, thanking his brother for the advice before saying he has to do homework. “Hey, Owen? Whatever happens, it’ll be fine. Kitty won’t let you lose her this easy.”

It sounds so simple, but it’s the one thing Owen knows for sure.

—

Kitty is caught off guard by the suggestion to go get dinner.

“We normally just call and order something,” She smirks, tossing her bag over her shoulder. “You really want to go out?”

Owen nods, shoving his wallet in his back pocket. He reaches for Kitty’s hand, and then pulls it back when he realizes that might be too forward. “I’m in the mood for these tacos? From this Mexican place not too far away. You’ll love it.”

“How can you be sure?” Kitty teases, smirking as she looks back at him on the stairwell.

“I mean, it’s Emmi’s favorite.”

Kitty laughs and Owen relaxes, smiling as they walk out the doors of his dorm building and down through the streets of town in search of the taco place Emmi raves about every time.

—

Kitty can tell when Owen is distracted.

He’s always been obvious, but over the years of being friends, Kitty almost feels like she can read his mind. He’s barely making conversation at dinner, giving her half-hearted replies to her stories about school. She waits a moment, hoping he’ll talk about why he’s half there and half not or why he isn’t sharing stories of his own, but instead it never comes.

So she takes a breath, finishing off the last of her taco and reaching for her soda. “Are you okay? You’ve been like… weird,” She decides, which comes off not as well as she had hoped when she hears it.

Owen seems caught off-guard by the question, and then nods quickly. “No yeah, I’m totally fine,” He says, which Kitty isn’t sure is _totally_ true, but before she can press for more he swallows, looking back at her. “Can we just? Like go to this park after this?”

“If I hadn’t known you all those years, I would think that was highly suspicious,” She smiles, laughing when Owen’s cheeks flush. “I’m kidding, of course we can.”

Owen finally finishes his dinner, tossing his things in the trash as they walk through the vibrant town, down towards a park just on the edge. There’s families playing at the playground on an unusually warm day, and just down a little further is a bench that Owen sits down on, watching as Kitty falls beside him.

“Are you really okay?” She asks after a moment, studying him. “You seem… jumpy. Off. I don’t know, just not yourself.”

“I’ve been thinking about us,” He blurts out quickly. His gaze shifts from her down to his lap, where he pulls the sleeves over his hands. “I just… I like you, and the arrangement isn’t bad, but I can’t shake the feeling that I want something more.”

“I can’t stop thinking about how I want to see you more. And how I want to take you on fancy dates and hold your hand and maybe think of you as more than just my best friend who I happen to have sex with,” He laughs. “I want to be your boyfriend, Kitty Covey.”

Kitty doesn’t say anything at first, letting his words sink in and the way he seems like maybe he didn’t know if this was something that she’d feel the same way about.

And truth be told, she hadn’t given it much thought. But as she sits here and listens to him and thinks about what that would mean for her, she thinks maybe she’d like that too.

“Feel free to tell me you hate the thought. I won’t be offended, and we can keep our arrangement as it is.”

Kitty turns to look at him, smiling as she leans forward and cups his face, kissing him roughly. “I want to be your girlfriend, Owen Kavinsky,” She decides. “And yeah, maybe we’ll need to change things or figure out how this is going to work, but I think we both knew this was inevitable.”

Owen laughs, kissing her again before leaning his forehead against hers. “I have never been so relieved in my life.”

Kitty, who lets go of Owen’s face to grab his hand, laughs alongside him, shaking her head. “I’m just glad we both came to our senses.”

Owen agrees quietly, and for a brief moment a silence falls between the two of them. Kitty squeezes his hand, leans over to kiss him again because they’re in _public_ and this isn’t something they’re hiding anymore, and then lets her head fall against his shoulder.

“Our siblings are going to kill us,” She laughs, feeling Owen shake with laughter underneath her as he nods in agreement.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you guys for reading and loving this little universe as much as i do! hope you loved this <3 <3 <3


End file.
